Cadet Enfield/Snider Cavalry Carbine

[QSAMIKE]

Good Morning Everyone.....

I thought that I would add a few pictures of my latest find......

A Cadet Enfield/Snider Cavalry Carbine.....

Not many markings and I have read the threads here and I am sorry but I cannot find any unit markings other than the usual proof markings.....

The plate is marked Enfield 1863..... Where all the others in the other threads are in the 1870's so could this be a very early one.....

I normally do not purchase weapons but this one just struck my fancy the man I bought this from at a reasonable price had two, a second one was marked "Halifax Garrison Artillery" but it was a lot more expensive.....

Mike

[Mark]

Lovely looking carbine, Mike! I am not an antique weapons collector either but a Brown Bess and several other Napoleonic items (swords) have found their way into my home in recent months. Following this I am trying to resist the urge to acquire some Victorian period weapons! Ok so maybe I am an antique weapons collector afterall...

Mark

[GrantRCanada]

Mike:

Since it appears to have the long-base rear sight and a "bead" front sight, your carbine is a Canadian cadet carbine, rather than a cavalry carbine.

When Canada finally started phasing out Snider-Enfields as its primary-issue military longarms in 1898, they were so obsolete that no market could be found for them. A decision was made to start issuing the stored cavalry carbines to Cadet Corps, it being a convenient size for boys to handle. However, as Canada only had a few thousand cavalry carbines, the supply of operational ones was soon exhausted, and it was then decided to begin cutting down 3-band rifles to the same general configuration for Cadet issue. They retained the rifle-pattern rear sight, the rod channel in the forestock was plugged with a wooden dowel contoured to the newly-formed forestock nose, and a simple bead was installed for a front sight. (In fact, although still fully functional, these carbines were intended primarily for drilling, not shooting; rather, each Corps was issued with one or more Magazine Lee-Enfield rifles for musketry training. Apparently the bead was placed out front mainly to assist in training boys how to line up a foresight in the rear sight notch because using it as a sight for actual shooting places the point of impact several feet above the point of aim.

From ""The Military Arms of Canada", a comparison of a cavalry carbine and cadet carbine:


Cadet carbines are a unique part of Canadian military history .... they are relatively common in this country, and unfortunately command significantly lower prices than cavalry carbines.

Cavalry carbines had a number of distinctive features: screw heads protruding from the forestock below the rear sight on which a leather sight cover was affixed - as seen above, the rear sight itself was a short-base carbine sight, the front sight was a rounded blade-type , and there was a butt-trap with hinged cover in the buttplate to hold a two-piece clearing rod .....

[QSAMIKE]

Thanks Grant......

As you can see I did state that I am not a weapons collector but I could not resist this one..... I did mention that it was Cadet......

How long were these used by the Cadet System????

Mike

[GrantRCanada]

Mike:

As your title just said "Cavalry Carbine", and the text said "Cadet Enfield/Snider Cavalry Carbine", I wasn't sure if you thought they were the same thing (or, worse yet, had been induced to pay a cavalry carbine price for a cadet carbine.}

One other noticeable difference I forgot to mention, by the way, is the hole through base of the forward leg of the triggerguard on your carbine, which originally housed the rear sling swivel on the 3-band rifle from which your Cadet was made. Cavalry carbines had no sling swivels, of course, so that hole is lacking -


The decision to convert surplus 3-band Snider-Enfield rifles into these cadet carbines was reflected in this statement in the 1904 Report to Parliament of the Inspector General of Ordnance:

.... The supply of arms suitable for issue to cadet corps having become exhausted, it was arranged to convert a number of long Snider rifles returned from and no longer required by the militia, into a suitable arm, by shortening the stock and barrel so as to make them resemble the Snider carbine which is constantly in demand.

(Quoted in David W. Edgecombe's definitive "Defending the Dominion: Canadian Military Rifles, 1855-1955")

Edgecombe notes that these carbines were still in use by some cadet corps into the early 1920's (reference given as "Stanley - Canada's Soldiers").

[Waggoner]

Another tell-tale is the striking face of the hammer. If it is recessed (cupped), then it is a converted P1853 percussion musket while my understanding is that most/all (?) Canadian carbines were the MkIII that were made as Sniders and therefore have a flat face. Of course, if I am mistaken, now is the time to educate me.

All the best,

Gary